Word.ws English Dictionary

universalize

universalize verb: to make universal, to make consistent or common across all cases.

Verb

universalize (third-person singular simple present universalizes, present participle universalizing, simple past and past participle universalized)

  1. (transitive) To make universal, to make consistent or common across all cases.
  2. (transitive) To consider or depict as universal.
    • The first notable issue in Gay by the Bay is that images of white people far outnumber those of people of color. The issue this raises is not about balance, but instead concerns who represents generic "gayness" or "queerness"? Which images are universalized and why? How and why are certain issues...1996 September, Doreen Drury, “The Gay Capital of the World”, in Gay Community News, page 22

Forms of universalize

third-person singular presentuniversalizes
present participleuniversalizing
past participleuniversalized
pastuniversalized
alternative formuniversalise

Origin of universalize

From universal + -ize.

Words formed from universalize

Questions about universalize

What does universalize mean?
Universalize means to make universal, to make consistent or common across all cases.
What part of speech is universalize?
Universalize is a verb.
What is the past tense of universalize?
The past tense of universalize is universalized.

Words near universalize in the dictionary

  1. universality of freefall
  2. universalizability
  3. universalizable
  4. universalization
  5. universalizations
  6. universalize
  7. universalized
  8. universalizer
  9. universalizers
  10. universalizes
  11. universalizing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: universalize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “universalize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/universalize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.